Sunday, February 16, 2014

Patriarch: negotiations for Syrian nuns’ release have ‘stumbled’; new video released

The patriarch of the Maronite Catholic Church said that the release
of a dozen kidnapped Syrian nuns appeared imminent until recently.

In December, Syrian rebel forces abducted the nuns from the Greek
Orthodox monastery of Mar Taqla in the historic Christian village of
Ma’loula, whose residents still speak Aramaic.

“We have made multiple contacts with several international sides, and
the nuns’ release was imminent, but the issue stumbled again,” said
Cardinal Béchara Boutros Raï, according to a report in the Beirut-based Daily Star.
Adding that “the nuns’ detention is a disgrace to the world,” Cardinal
Raï called upon nations “that are either eager for a Syria war or to
talk peace in Syria” to work for the nuns’ release.

The patriarch’s February 11 remarks came two days after the Al Jazeera
television network broadcast a new video in which the nuns appeared.

“They say they are in good health, haven’t been mistreated... and they
are waiting for their release to return to the convent,” a commentator
said, according to an Agence France-Presse report.